Meeting of Waters : A Collaboration with Josiah Steinbrick

Mapping Time: Harmonic Studies for Vera Rubin

Mapping Time: Harmonic Studies for Vera Rubin is a series of drawings and sound works dedicated to the astronomical theories of dark matter. Vera Rubin was a prolific astrophysicist who confirmed dark matter by studying galactic rotation curves, and passed away this past December 2016. I used different processes of data visualization, creating four large-scale graphs inspired by historical and cultural practices in cartography.

These graphs were then translated into sound using digital audio programs - using percussive instruments such as vibraphones, bells and drums, which accompany the drawings. Several recordings from the NASA archive are looped as drones throughout the piece (such as sounds from the Kepler Station).

Graph (left) is based off Einstein's gravitational theories, as gravitation is the only way that Rubin and other scientists have been able to detect dark matter. Notational work (right), is a personalized translation of the data, which has been notated into sound works that are played aloud during the exhibition.

Syzygy: An Absurdist Opera

Syzygy is a contemporary opera based on the discovery of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity during WWI. Composed during my stay in Florence, the compositions were created through a process of sonification; translating Einstein’s equations into musical data, forming a mixture of classical and electronic music.

Bach's Meditations

When reading about Bach's great books of musical works, (The Art of Fugue, I, II), I came across his original intentions for his scores. They were not meant to be played - kept in silence. But rather, they were to be played in the mind of the student practicing as a mental excercise. A silent meditation on music.

I was inspired to create different notational diagrams as visual meditations on his piece, The Prelude and Fugue #1 in C Major.

A Western Enlightenment

A notation of Bach's Fugue 1 in C major, painted according to Newtonian colour theory.

A Western Enlightenment (closeup)

Bach's Meditations II

Bach's Meditations III

Bach's Meditations III (Closeup)

Book of Ragas

A book of water colours dedicated to ragas.

(An ongoing project)

There are 2 definitions for Raga:

Raga‘rāgā:/ ‘ra:ga:/

(Music) n

A form of ancient, traditional Indian music that equips patterns of melody and rhythm which form the basis for improvisational compositions.

(Sanskrit)Literally, colour, tone.

Hence a dye of colour is given to each raga.A form of repetition/ritual/meditation for each morning.

There are over 4,000 ragas, but only a little over 100 of them are performed today. Each raga has a specific religious deity, time of day & season to be performed, and chakra. The boundaries are circled around the recordings that still exist today (which I can find online). I listen to the textures & tones of each raga, dedicating a colour to them.